The Council of Ministers, including Vanuatu's Prime Minister, Moana Carcasses Kalosil, was travelling back to Port Vila following a meeting in the outer province of Torba.

Vanuatu Independent's editor, Tony Wilson, told Radio Australia's Pacific Beat program he believes Mr Tiona's comment was in response to another user's post stating that if the plane crashed, "it would take the entire Vanuatu government with it".

Mr Tiona was a journalist with the Vanuatu Independent newspaper.

Social media policing

Mr Wilson says Mr Tiona's comment has since been removed from the social media site.

He says Mr Tiona made a written apology to the Prime Minister on the same forum page, saying his original comment had been misconstrued.

In his apology Mr Tiona says he was referring to a discussion about the full cabinet travelling on the one plane.

"I wasn’t trying to make a crash happen," he said in the apology.

"I’d like to say my comment has not got anything to do with terrorism.

"I'm very sorry."

Mr Wilson says he believes the charges seem "over the top", but says the arrest indicates authorities are serious about policing comments on social media.

"It's not as though he had any weapons or had a plot against anyone or even made any direct threats against anyone," he said.

"But the fact remains, there was a complaint made by the Prime Minister, the police acted on it and that's where we stand."